Some twenty years ago, I wrote The People’s Emperor: Democracy and the Japanese Monarchy, 1945–1995. Now, with the ascension of a new emperor and the dawn of the Reiwa era, the time seemed ripe to expand and update the study of the monarchy’s role as a political, social, and cultural institution in contemporary Japan.
The first six chapters of this volume, covering the history of Japan’s postwar monarchy through 1995, are based largely on the corresponding chapters of The People’s Emperor, updated as needed. Chapters 7 and 8 bring us along through the remainder of the Heisei era (1989–2019) to the early days of the Reiwa era, including the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the ascension of Emperor Naruhito in 2019. In these new chapters, I devote particular attention to the heir crisis, stressing the fragility of the imperial line under the current legal system.
Between the time that The People’s Emperor was published and the preparation of this updated volume, I continued to receive guidance from many of the individuals cited previously. But along the way, more people helped me. Words cannot express my gratitude for all the advice I have received from Professor Hara Takeshi of the University of the Air over the past fifteen years. He is a remarkable scholar, and I profit from every communication with him.
More recently, Inoue Makoto, a journalist for the Nihon keizai shinbun, has been a source of much advice and has been very kind about making introductions for me in Japan. He is a man of great dignity and character and is widely trusted, giving his introductions special weight. He also recommended the photograph used as the basis for the cover of this book.
Kimura Takahisa, now retired from Kyodo News, has continued to translate into Japanese so many of my writings, including my recent
A series of invitations following Emperor Akihito’s rare television address in 2016 indicating his desire to abdicate drew me back to the topic of the Japanese monarchy. Dr. Tristan Grunow invited me to give a lecture about the imperial house at the University of British Columbia. This was followed by an invitation by Professor Susan Pharr to speak about the monarchy at Harvard University, and then an invitation from Professor Melissa Dale to lecture about the same topic at the University of San Francisco. I also lectured at Portland State University. Finally, Professor Helen Hardacre invited me to lecture again at Harvard University. Slowly but surely, with much help from questions asked and feedback provided in conjunction with these lectures, I began to update my understanding of the postwar monarchy to include recent developments.
Meanwhile, various mass media outlets in Japan were asking me for commentary about dramatic new imperial developments, which also required me to think through topics such as abdication. I eventually concluded that this might be the basis of a new book. First, the Asahi Newspaper Company and I reached an agreement to publish a book about the Heisei monarchy. Subsequently, Bob Graham, director of publications for the Harvard University Asia Center, agreed, after consulting various Harvard faculty, that an updated and expanded version of the original English edition was in order. I acknowledge his skillful guiding hand in bringing this new volume to fruition.
While preparing new material for this book, Professor Sasahi Hiroo of Ryukoku University (then in residence at Portland State University as a visiting scholar) provided advice on which new photographs to include. Portland State University’s Friends of History underwrote the cost of reproducing those photographs. Generous supporters of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University have continued to nurture a stimulating intellectual environment in the face of a bizarre national neoliberalist trend whereby state governments (including Oregon) are disinvesting from public universities. Who would have thought we would
Between the time when Tennō to nihonjin was published in January 2019 and this new volume was prepared, NHK World brought me to Japan twice to serve as a studio analyst for television coverage of Akihito’s abdication and Naruhito’s enthronement. Suffice it to say that television news is a high-pressure, time-sensitive endeavor. It is time sensitive not only in the sense that one must report the news as it happens, but also because one must make use of extremely limited on-air time to transmit important points in a concise way. This experience forced me to refine with utter precision my thoughts on various issues related to the contemporary imperial house. Although I must dutifully stress that this book is in no way endorsed by NHK World, I am grateful to them for providing me with an experience that I credit for improving parts of this monograph.
For my wife, Jean; daughters Carolyn and Megan; son, Patrick; and family dog, Chip, who sometimes kept me company when I was writing, I have good news. The updated book is done! Thanks so much for all your support.
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Acknowledgments for The People’s Emperor
Carol Gluck, David Cannadine, and Henry D. Smith II provided valuable guidance from the time that this project was in its earliest stage through to its completion. The Department of History at Columbia University was an excellent place at which to study when I underwent the doctoral program there between 1990 and 1997. In addition to Carol Gluck and Henry D. Smith II, Sheldon Garon, Michael Tsin, and Frank Upham participated on the Ph.D. defense committee and provided numerous suggestions for revising the dissertation into a book. Both Andrew Gordon and David Titus read versions of the manuscript and offered extensive and valuable suggestions for fine-tuning the final product. I was privileged to work with these scholars, and it is my great pleasure to acknowledge their assistance.
John Ziemer, executive editor of the Harvard East Asian Monograph series, was kind and astute in guiding me through the various stages of preparation of the earlier book, and I thank him for his efforts. At Portland State University, the chair of the History Department, Lois Becker, and my departmental colleagues provided a congenial working environment for which I am grateful. My research assistant, Lisa Griffen, helped me with many tedious tasks related to completing this book, and I acknowledge her diligence. It is my pleasure to acknowledge Bruce and Cindy Brenn, Sandy and Akiko Lynch, and Tim and Martha McGinnis for their strong support of the Japanese Studies program at Portland State University.
During the course of researching this project, many individuals at numerous libraries on both sides of the Pacific helped me, sometimes with quite difficult requests, and I am able to thank only a few by name. Takada Naoko and Adachi Yoshie of the Political Science Resource Room at Hokkaido University found ways to put even the most obscure sources into my hands. Kobayashi Shiori assisted me with computer questions. At Columbia University, Amy Heinrich, Yasuko Makino, Ria Koopmans-de Bruijn, and the staff of the Starr East Asian Library provided assistance beyond the call of duty.
During a return trip to Japan for research in the summer of 2000, in addition to many of the individuals mentioned above, I received
Between 1994 and 2000, parts of original edition were presented as papers at the following institutions and conferences: Portland State University; Columbia University; Harvard University; Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, Oxford University; Japan Centre, Cambridge University; Hokkaido University; German Institute for Japanese Studies (Tokyo); Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference (1996, 1998); American Historical Association Annual Meeting (1999); the “Competing Modernities in Twentieth-Century Japan: Empires, Cultures, Identities” conference held at the University of California at San Diego; and the International House of Japan’s Seventh Annual Ph.D. Kenkyukai Conference. I thank the many individuals who made helpful comments regarding those presentations. I also want to mention that while I never had the opportunity to work with Professor Watanabe Osamu, I profited from his scholarship on the monarchy in postwar Japan.
Research and writing were made possible through generous financial support from several institutions. Between 1990 and 1997, the Department of History and the East Asian Institute at Columbia University awarded me several fellowships. Hokkaido University provided me with comprehensive support for my field research between October 1994 and March 1996. I profited from a postdoctoral appointment at the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University (1997–98). Grants from the Northeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies, the Faculty Development Committee at Portland State University, and the Friends of History at Portland State University allowed me to return to Japan in the summer of 2000 to conduct further research, especially about the 2,600th anniversary celebrations, and to purchase the photographs included in this book. I express my heartfelt thanks for all the financial assistance that this project received.
I am grateful to Enid Ruoff for proofreading several versions of the manuscript. From the time that I began to study Japanese in the summer of 1985, I received dedicated instruction in this language at Cornell University, Harvard University, Keio University, and Indiana University.